Participant
by ARandomChick
Summary: Brittany is a master in the arts of singing, dancing, fashion, and... after school activities. She knows her little sister has trouble including herself and making friends, so she encourages Jeanette to sign up for some after school activities. So Jeanette does, and for a clutz like her, it becomes a disaster.
1. Encouragement

**Hi! My first story that is ****_not_**** a Victorious (Hey! I only ****_said_**** the name you can't sue me!) story. I had originally wrote this one on paper for myself before I had an account, and I decided to share it with all of you.**

**I don't own Alvin and the Chipmunks, the Chipettes, or any of those six little chipmunk guys.**

Monday, May 12th

* * *

Jeanette Miller walked home from school with her sisters Brittany and Eleanor. Brittany was rambling on and on about some after school extracurricular activity that had just started, and she and Eleanor were only have listening.

Until Brittany said, "You should really sign up for some after school thing, Jeanette. They're super fun."

"Um, no thanks, Britt. I'm good."

"Please? It'll be fun, I promise," Brittany pleaded.

"Yeah, that's what you said when I tried rollerblading for the first time," Jeanette said grimacing.

All three girls searched their brains for the memory.

* * *

**_ Flashback:_**

**_ Brittany is 9, Jeanette is 6, and Eleanor is 4._**

**_ "It's OK, Jen," Brittany assures her younger sister, "You'll be fine, I promise. It'll be fun."_**

**_ "Ok," Jeanette said worriedly, "If you say so."_**

**_ "I'll count to fwee," Eleanor volunteered, glad to be of assistance._**

**_ "One,"_**

**_ Jeanette took a deep breath. Ms. Miller had told the girls to do that whenever they were really scared or nervous._**

**_ "Two,"_**

**_ Jeanette was thinking to herself, "Happy place, Jen. Find your happy place. OK, the library. Think library."_**

**_ "Fwee."_**

**_ Jeanette braced herself and lifted her leg up to push herself off the sidewalk and to start rollerblading, only to receive a violent push from Brittany._**

**_ "Bye-Bye," Eleanor waved as Jeanette raced uncontrollably down the hill. Her long brown hair which had escaped from her bun flowed in the wind. Her green eyes were wide with fright. She'd gained so much momentum that her ruffled dark blue skirt flew up making her purple underwear visible. Jeanette had never been so thankful for underwear in her life. _**

**_ But the worst was yet to come._**

**_ The girls had a neighbor a few houses down. His name was Mr. Connors. He watched the girls for Ms. Miller sometimes and gave them candy. He was 78 years old and treated them like granddaughters. The garbage truck picked his trash can up from his house on Mondays and Wednesdays, and it would be gone for a while. Unfortunately, today was Tuesday and part of the sidewalk had been pushed up by growing grass._**

**_ Jeanette squeezed her eyes shut so she wouldn't have to watch the terrible moment happen. She knew what was coming. And she'd learned this lesson before already, too. If something looks dangerous, even if your seemingly wise know-it-all older sister tells you to do it, DON'T DO IT._**

**_ Jeanette hit the bump in the sidewalk, was launched into the air, slammed into the trash can, and started to cry._**

**_End of Flashback_**

* * *

"Oh yeah," Brittany said, recalling the memory with fondness. "That was pretty funny."

"_Funny_?!" Jeanette asked, appalled. "I broke my arm that summer!"

Brittany started getting defensive. "It's not _my_ fault Mr. Connors left his trash can out for kindergarteners to rollerblade into!"

Jeanette sighed and Eleanor shook her head. Brittany just didn't get it, did she?

**How did you like it? Remember my new "first chapter review" rule.**


	2. Activity 1: Cooking Class

**Next chapter of ****_Participant_****! OK I have nothing else to say. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, this is the cartoon version, Brittany is 13, Jeanette is 10, and Eleanor is 8.**

Tuesday, May 13th

The girls met after school that day near Brittany's locker. She and Eleanor had become in charge of signing Jeanette up for stuff because she wasn't very good at picking them herself.

* * *

**_Flashback: Last night_**

**_ Brittany went to the school website to find a list of clubs, classes, groups, and activities that Jeanette might like._**

**_ "Ok, Jen," Brittany said. "Choose from this list."_**

**_ Jeanette hummed as she scrolled through the list. It was very long and arranged by popularity among students. It was about two minutes before Jeanette found something she was interested in. She called Brittany over to come look._**

**_ "_****Library Club?!"****_ Brittany asked, dumbfounded. "You do realize that all you do in this 'club' is check out library books except with other people, right? And if you want to do that, just grab Simon and head down to the library near our house."_**

**_ Even Eleanor, who normally would've stood up to Brittany to say something like "Jeanette can like what she likes." or "It's Jeanette's choice, Britt." agreed. _**

**_ "You need to sign up for a _****real ****_club, Jeanette," Eleanor said. "It will help you make friends and do a better job including yourself. You're very quiet most of the time."_**

**_ Jeanette sighed. "Ok."_**

**_ "I'll take the pressure off you," Brittany said. "Me and Ellie will pick for you and tell you everything after school."_**

**_ "Deal," Jeanette said before going to bed._**

**_ Flashback end_**

* * *

"Me and Brittany agreed to sign you up for a cooking class," Eleanor said cheerily. Brittany mumbled something under her breath about wanting to sign Jeanette up for beauty class instead, but Eleanor continued. "You've got a big brain in there"-Eleanor knocked on Jeanette's forehead, Jeanette said "Ouch!"-"and if you learned how to cook, you'd be rich."

"If you say so. I trust you," Jeanette said nervously.

"Alright," Brittany said. "Room 204."

"Thanks guys," Jeanette called over her shoulder as she ran down the hall.

* * *

Class hadn't started yet. Most of the children already knew each other, and passed the time by talking to each other.

Just then a cheerful woman wearing an apron and a smile entered the room.

"My name is Mrs. Popper. I'm glad to see some of you returning and I also see a couple of new faces." Mrs. Popper stared right at Jeanette when she said that last part.

Mrs. Popper clapped her hands her hands together because she and Jeanette were competing for the children's attention.

The kids ripped their eyes away from Jeanette who was beginning to feel self-conscious.

"Thank You," Mrs. Popper said, annoyed. "Today we will be making sugar cookies. Now, the first thing you do is pre-heat the oven to… um… let me see."

As soon as Mrs. Popper announced the temperature, Jeanette went to pre-heat the oven, but her glasses fell to the floor.

Jeanette couldn't see that well without her glasses, but most of the time, she could see well enough. Jeanette preheated the oven, bent down, and put her glasses back on.

Jeanette found that making the cookies was easier than she had originally thought. She was also surprised to find that she was pretty good at it. She breezed through every instruction she received and finally it was time to put them in the oven.

Jeanette put chunks of cookie dough onto the baking sheet and pressed cookie cutters into them. She put the cookies in the oven and waited.

But then a prissy girl named Lizzy stuck her nose in the air and said, "I smell something burning."

At first, no one paid any attention because Lizzy always looked as though she smelled something burning, but had never actually said so.

But then a boy named Manny, who was learning to speak English, said, "I smell burning, too."

Jeanette sniffed. She smelled it, too. Jeanette suddenly noticed that everyone was staring at her. Eleanor looked disappointed. The burning smell was getting worse now. Lizzy looked at Jeanette mockingly, as if she knew Jeanette would be a failure.

Jeanette was afraid that her cookies were the ones that were burning, because she thought it was too good to be true. She hadn't even tripped once. So she opened the oven.

Smoke flew out into Jeanette face. She started coughing and hacking.

Jeanette wiped her glasses and left the room. She hoped Brittany and Eleanor had a new activity for her tomorrow.


End file.
